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Last time, I talked about the relatively recent obesity epidemic. So let me re-introduce you to Dr Kessler, who used to be the commissioner of the American Food and Drug Administration. He reckons that a significant cause of this obesity epidemic is the multi-billion dollar multi-national big food Industry. In the 1980s, they finally perfected the science of making food-like substances that were super-delicious — and addictive to boot.

But how exactly did they get us to leave natural foods like meat, fruit and vegies, and instead choose something that is vacuum-sealed, blister-packed, and needs a chain saw to open the packet?

Taste, for one.

The consumer won't love the product if it has too much or too little sweetness, saltiness or fattiness. There is a "bliss point" for sugar, salt and fat, where they each taste divine, and it took the food chemists only a few years to find that "bliss point".

Another part of loving hyper-palatable products is the concept of 'mouth feel'. This is what the food industry loved about trans fats — they are ridiculously easy to manipulate to give any texture you want. You can have solid, crunchy, flaky, gently flowing or any combination of the above.

In the good old days, people used to chew the food in their mouth 25 times before they swallowed it - it's now down to 10 chews. Less chewing means you can eat faster and stuff in more calories. Luckily, another advantage of having extra fat in the product is that it acts as a lubricant - and can slide down into your gut more easily.

The food industry loves trans fats.

Shame about the damage that trans fats cause to the cardiovascular system. They are slowly being banned in the developed countries. But the food industry only very rarely removes trans fats voluntarily.

And that's not all. Dr Kessler says that hyper-palatable food products can alter your brain chemistry, to make you addicted to them.

Hyper-palatable products act as rewards. Even if you're not hungry, you'll still keep on eating after you're full. They are almost as "rewarding" as the drug cocaine. Now if you are dealing with stuff almost as "rewarding" as cocaine, you are dealing with an addictive substance. The product gets your attention, it stays in your memory, it changes your mood and it becomes your focus. You begin to spend your time thinking about your next meal.

Your body has a balancing mechanism that tends to keep your body weight constant — it balances the energy in, against the energy out. So if you have a huge lunch, you would normally balance this by having a small dinner — but not if you're eating hyper-palatable foods.

Dr Kessler says that repeatedly eating hyper-palatable products effectively can rewire your brain. Your brain becomes more sensitive, to the point of thinking constantly about eating these rewarding hyper-palatable foods. This is why the food industry advertising uses emotional, rather than nutritional, appeals to promote their products.

Hyper-palatable foods are linked to emotional pleasure. The emotional reward motivates you to repeat the action, over and over (the action of putting the product in your mouth). Eventually the repeated behaviour becomes deeply entrenched as a habit, and results in automatic eating. You eat without enjoyment.

Your 'energy in' versus 'energy out' mechanism is totally inadequate against this cleverly orchestrated onslaught. It crumbles in front of the overwhelming drive of the firing of your brain's reward centres.

And so you eat another hyper-palatable food product. If you try to not eat a particular product, you feel deprived - so perversely, this increases the reward value of the food.

And so you eat another hyper-palatable food product. You get momentary pleasure, and then you feel more out of control. The cycle repeats.

Big food gets richer, and you get fatter and sicker.

Dr Kessler reckons you need rules to break out of the compulsive eating loop.

Rules get you back in control. Rules are easier to stick with if they are simple, for example: "I do not eat chips or dessert". Rules take away the need to exercise will power. As you follow the rules, you learn new responses — and you soon develop new automatic responses.

So here are some tips.

One — get educated. Learn how to read food labels, and understand what's in the food (including loaded and layered ingredients). Most English-speaking Western countries have lost the difference between a snack and a meal. So when you have a snack, you should eat less at the next meal.

Two — maybe live in France for a year. In France, food is eaten only at mealtimes (and certainly never while walking on the street). The French don't snack, and their students would never bring food into a classroom.

Three — Eat smaller portions.

Four — Be alert to situations that stress you into eating. Distract your own attention from food. Avoid yes/no debates in your head — concentrate on other goals.

Five — Plan other activities instead of food — talking on the phone, going for a walk…

And here's one of my own — exercise makes you feel better. How's that for some food for thought …